Page 8 of Damon

I laughed softly, plucking the joint from her grasp. “Sexy and smart. I’m impressed. The catch is that if I let you go and punish Andy for his little indiscretion here, you owe me.”

“I owe you?” Athena scoffed. “And what exactly do I owe you, Damon?”

“Whatever I want, whenever I want, for however long I want. Is that a problem?” I shot her a smirk that had her glaring again, enjoying her obvious discomfort.

Several beats passed before she softly said, “I knew you were scum.”

Well, damn, I didn’t think I deserved that. Clearly this girl had formed an opinion of me. Not that I really cared what she thought.

“All right, that’s fine. I’ll just give Andy a call and let him know where to find you.” Picking up my phone from where it lay on the log between us, I made as if to do exactly as I said.

Athena waved her bound hands awkwardly in front of her. “Please don’t. I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll owe you. Although for the record, I think you are a real motherfucker.”

“Noted.” I continued to make my call to Andy anyway.

“What are you doing?” Athena’s voice rose in panic. “I agreed to your terms.”

I waved away her concern. “I’m getting Andy out here. A guy like him can’t be trusted not to try something like this again. That piece of shit wanted me to rape and disfigure you. He has to pay.”

The shit that Andy had described had put him on my radar immediately. I knew right then that I wanted to hurt him. While I made the call, I cut Athena free from the ropes holding her bound. She bitched and complained about the rope burns on her skin. This princess really didn’t get it. She wasn’t the victim here. By the end of the night, she would see that.

Andy was all too happy to meet me at the graveyard after I told him that I had Athena. We hadn’t originally planned for him to join me, but when I told him that she would be entirely at our mercy, he needed no further encouragement.

Using the light from my phone, I held tight to Athena’s arm so she couldn’t escape me as we navigated our way back to the graveyard. It took longer than I expected. She’d covered a lot of ground in her haste to escape me.

“I don’t really have to help you punish this guy, do I?” She tried uselessly to jerk her arm free. “Pretty sure you’re bruising me. Do you have to hold on so tight?”

“Since I don’t trust you, of course I do. I’m not having you take off on me now. You’re lucky I untied your hands. Don’t make me regret that.” As an afterthought I added, “And yes, you have to help. Andy is your problem after all. Don’t worry. I’ll do most of the work. You might even enjoy it.”

Athena’s noise of disgust brought a smile to my face. She made it so easy to coax the reaction from her.

“You’re my problem now,” she said, bitterness in her tone. “God, my feet hurt.”

I didn’t bother with a response. As we continued to navigate our way through the trees, Athena kept up the bitching and moaning. My focus was elsewhere. Lost in thought as I imagined the beating I would lay on Andy. I would love to kill the fucker. Since he had ties to Athena that may incriminate her, I would have to settle for a beat down instead.

Finally, we emerged from the forest into the graveyard. Andy hadn’t shown up yet. Good. I needed to prepare.

I steered Athena over to a headstone, sitting her down on top of it. “Don’t move a muscle or the deal is off and Andy can have you.”

“You’re so vile,” she called after me as I went to my car to fetch more rope.

“Whatever you say, cream puff,” I chuckled, keeping a watchful eye on her as I went.

This night had been pretty fucking sweet so far. And it was about to get better.

CHAPTER FIVE

ATHENA

My mind was blown. Shattered. This entire night felt like a fever dream.

Not once had I guessed that Damon Price was the man chasing me through the woods. Seeing his face had shocked me. I thought it might be Andy or someone else who felt like I had led them on. Finding out that Damon had basically been hired to come after me was more than I could wrap my brain around.

I sat on the cold headstone, watching him dig a substantial length of rope from the back of his vehicle. Was I supposed to trust him? Because I sure as hell didn’t. How could I possibly trust someone who was basically a thug for hire?

Damon claimed that he was going to draw Andy out here, to make him sorry for what he wanted to do to me. Hearing Damon describe what Andy had asked of him made me sick. Maybe I should be glad that Damon had limits on what he was willing to do to another person. Assuming he told the truth.

Maybe Andy was really his partner in crime and the two of them were going to do those things to me anyway. I thought about trying to run but knew I would never get far with my aching feet. My dress was torn and dirty. Fit for the trash now. Not that it mattered. The dress could be replaced.